By Kelly Yates
Parents collect their children from Strathaird Primary School last week as firefighters say they still do not know what caused between 30 and 40
students to show symptoms of watering and itchy eyes, sore noses and skin irritations. 39118
Stewart
Chambers
FIREFIGHTERS say they still do not know what caused between 30 and 40 Narre Warren students to show symptoms of watering and itchy eyes, sore noses and skin irritations last week.
The students were evacuated from Strathaird Primary School when they began to show these symptoms last Wednesday.
Fourth Lieutenant Damien Baker from the Narre Warren Fire Brigade said firefighters declared the school safe at 2.30pm.
“Firelighters found traces of chlorine in the area, but couldn’t confirm that it was the substance responsible for the children’s reactions,” he said. Some of the students were taken to hospital while the rest of them were evacuated and transported to Narre Warren South P-12 College.
As the students returned to school the following day, firefighters were called to another school in Casey where students were showing similar symptoms.
In a letter sent home to parents on Thursday night, Hallam Valley Primary School principal Kerry Coffey said four students had gone to the school’s sick bay with red swollen eyes and a rash during the day.
Ms Coffey said the firefighters were called to the school as a precautionary measure to ensure the facilities and grounds were safe for all students, staff and the community.
“After visiting our school, all emergency services have determined that the site is safe, and word received from the hospital was that these children were suffering common allergies, which were not linked to any problem at the school site and could not be linked to the problems a neighbouring school faced,” she said.
First Lieutenant Paul Hardy from the Narre Warren Fire Brigade said the incident was worrying to firefighters as it was the second day in a row where children were showing the same symptoms.
